


no use crying over spilled empanadillas

by hi_hello_hey_there



Series: you don't have to say i love you (to say i love you) [17]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Aunt Victoria Finds Out About the Phantoms, Aunt Victoria is Very Open-Minded, Gen, How Do I Tag, Secret's Out, wasted food
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-17 09:14:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28971906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hi_hello_hey_there/pseuds/hi_hello_hey_there
Summary: “Here, drink this. You’ll feel better.”
Relationships: Alex Mercer & Aunt Victoria (Julie and The Phantoms), Carlos Molina & Aunt Victoria, Julie Molina & Aunt Victoria, Luke Patterson & Aunt Victoria, Reggie Peters & Aunt Victoria (Julie and The Phantoms)
Series: you don't have to say i love you (to say i love you) [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1942267
Comments: 17
Kudos: 80





	no use crying over spilled empanadillas

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! My back hurts and existence is a sham. That is to say, this one is also un-beta'd and I'm tired. Enjoy!

The serenity of the unusually balmy Thursday afternoon the Molina household had been enjoying in the wake of yesterday’s thunderstorm is promptly shattered by the bloodcurdling scream of _tía_ Victoria followed by a crash. Julie is the first to arrive on the scene from the living room where she’d been doing homework, eyes locking on Reggie standing at the island before surveying the damage of a smashed glass pan and food remnants on the ground. She notices her _tía_ ’s face quickly draining of color as she stares just to the left and down of where Reggie is, desperately trying to get words to come out of her mouth. Carlos and her dad arrive shortly thereafter and her dad works quickly to pick his way through the broken shards of glass and _empanadillas_ to assess the situation.

“¿ _Qué pasó_?” he asks _tía_ , gripping her shoulder and maneuvering her away from the mess. “Stay back, kids,” he says as he goes. He guides her toward the dining room table, angling out the end seat for her to sit down heavily as he crouches in front of her to talk quietly in Spanish. Julie shoots Reggie a questioning glance and he points wordlessly at the glass of orange juice she had asked him to get her now resting on the counter. She elbows Carlos to show him what happened and he nods in understanding.

“ _Tía_ , what’s wrong?” he asks, trying to do some damage control. He takes the seat behind her and he puts his hand on her shoulder, hers automatically coming up to cover it.

“I- I- I-” _tía_ tries, but her breath is coming too quickly for her to do anything but push herself closer to hyperventilation.

Julie takes the seat opposite Carlos and tells her, “ _Take a breath_ ,” in Spanish, demonstrating an overdramatized breath in with accompanying hand motions. _Tía_ nods frantically and copies her. Slowly but surely, her breathing returns to normal and her free hand rests on her heart. “Now, tell us what happened.”

_Tía_ ’s eyes shoot momentarily to the side, towards the kitchen where Reggie still stands frozen in place. “I came in to bring dinner early since Damiana and I are having date night tonight and I saw-” She cuts herself off as her breath starts to pick up again until she takes a centering breath and continues. “I saw that glass floating in midair and for a second, I could’ve sworn I saw a boy holding it. He looked… well, he looked like the boy who plays bass in your band, _mija_.”

Julie looks sullenly at Carlos and then her dad, the same question she has reflected on both of their faces: _Is it time to tell her?_

“About that, _tía_ , I-” But she’s cut off by her _tía_ ’s sharp intake of breath and widening eyes. Julie turns to see what she’s looking at and notes that Luke and Alex have chosen now of all times to poof into the room. She closes her eyes and lets out a frustrated sigh, saying, “ _ Jesus _ ,” on the exhale.

“Did you see those two boys flash in and disappear?” _tía_ asks when she turns back around, clearly frightened.

“So she can’t see us?” Luke asks from behind her.

And then _tía_ screams again. “Who’s there? Who said that? Is it the demon who lives here?”

Finally, Reggie says something: “I am  _ not  _ a demon.”

There’s another scream and Alex quietly tells Julie, “I see where you get it from.” She aims a punch behind her. It connects and she sees Alex doubling over out of the corner of her eye. “Ow,” he groans, causing a satisfied smirk to quirk up one side of Julie’s mouth.

But it falls not long after. Her mind is spinning with how to address this… interesting situation as Carlos and her dad try to calm her down again. Ideas flit by too fast for her to consider all of them and she can’t concentrate long enough with her aunt screaming, “ _El demonio_ , Ray! _El demonio_!” Carlos tries and fails to reassure her that there isn’t, nor was there ever a demon in this house—even though that’s not entirely true with the whole Nick-Caleb thing—but _tía_ can’t see to get herself under control.

Finally, Julie thinks she might have it. “ _Tía_?” she interrupts. Her aunt’s head snaps towards her, true terror evident in her eyes. It makes Julie’s growing irritation at having to make another introduction to the ghost boys who are stuck here fizzle out as she realizes her aunt is just scared. “I want to try something, okay?” _Tía_ nods. “Okay. Close your eyes and focus on what those boys looked like. Even if you only saw them for half a second, just focus on what they look like.”

“Why do I want to focus on what they-”

“Just trust me,” Julie assures her. _Tía_ lets out a shaky breath and does as she’s told, eyes closing tightly as her faces screws up in concentration. Julie motions for Reggie to join the other boys and she tells them in a breathy whisper over her shoulder, “I want you guys to concentrate on being visible. I think she might be having trouble because she doesn’t believe.” The three of them nod and set to work with varying degrees of visible effort on their faces. It makes her snort fondly as she faces completely forward. “Okay, _tía_. Do you have their images in your mind?”

“Yes.”

“Perfect. Now when I tell you to, you’re going to open your eyes and I want you to try not to panic.” She waves her arm behind her to tell the boys to open their eyes as well, saying a quick prayer to anyone that’s listening that her aunt wont’ faint in the process. “Alright, open them.”

_Tía_ ’s eyes open, Carlos and her dad looking ready to catch her if need be. Her whole face goes slack as she looks at each of the guy’s, her body stiff as a board. She blinks once, comically slow and in a different situation, Julie might have burst out laughing, but she’s trying to assess whether or not _tía_ ’s contemplating calling a psychiatric hospital for herself. “ _What am I looking at?_ ” she asks in Spanish.

It’s not great, but at least she’s still conscious. “ _Tía_ , these are Alex, Luke, and Reggie, my bandmates. Guys, this is my aunt, _tía_ Victoria.”

Reggie gives an enthusiastic smile and wave while Alex and Luke look like they’re actively trying not to grimace as _tía_ appraises all of them. “Okay,” her aunt finally says, eyes turning to Julie. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on or do I have to guess for myself? Because I don’t have the foggiest where to begin.”

“Settle in,” Carlos says, standing to push her chair into the table. “This is a doozy.”

~ ~ ~

After another, lengthy explanation, _tía_ is propping her face up in her hands and staring resolutely at the table. “And they’ve been here the whole time?” she asks once they’ve finished their story.

“Apparently so,” her dad responds with a small grin at the boys.

She raises and eyebrow at Julie. “And have they been in your room?”

“ _Tía_!” she protests, but secretly she’s glad her aunt seems to be taking this in stride and is well on her way back to her old self.

“What? I’m not allowed to be concerned three teenage boys are in my niece’s room?” She chuckles at the mortified look on Julie’s face for a moment before dropping her head back into her hands. “That’s so much to process. _Ay, Dios mío_ , I can feel a headache.”

Reggie stands from the spot he’d taken up at the table and returns with the offending glass of juice. Julie knows he’s not poofing around for her aunt’s sake and it warms her heart a little. **“Here, drink this. You’ll feel better.”** He puts it down in front of her and is about to return to his seat when he spins on his heel and says, “I’m really sorry about scaring you, _tía_. Both times.”

She takes a long sip of the orange juice as she mulls over what he’s said. Realization dawns on her face and she asks, “You were the one in the living room that night?” Reggie nods guiltily. “You were just trying to help Carlos prove his point, weren’t you.” It’s not so much a question as a statement but Reggie still nods again. _Tía_ holds out her hand and Reggie looks questioningly at it, obviously debating whether or not he should try. Julie can almost hear the  _ why not? _ his face displays as he goes for it. To everyone’s complete shock and surprise, it doesn’t go through and her aunt gives it a single, hard squeeze before letting go. “That’s so sweet of you, Reggie. In a very strange way, but sweet nonetheless.”

A round of laughter goes up around the table, the tenseness in the air starting to dissipate. “Maybe I should clean up the kitchen now, huh?” her dad asks.

“I’ll help,” Luke offers. “I can’t get hurt anyway.” Julie, Alex, Reggie, and Carlos go to join them when _tía_ stops Alex short.

“I’d like a moment with him, okay? We’ll be right in,” _tía_ says with a reassuring smile. Julie sends him a questioning glance and only when she receives the affirmative head nod does she join the others in the kitchen. She overhears her aunt’s next few sentences: “If you ever want to talk about LGBT stuff, I’m here for you okay? As someone who grew up knowing she was different, I know what it’s like and I can help.” That’s when she realizes this is a private conversation and she should step away.

“These poor, poor _empanadillas_ ,” Carlos says as their dad scoops chunks of food and glass into the dustpan before dropping them in the garbage bag her brother holds.

Luke chuckles. “They’re in a better place now, little man.” Julie opens another garbage bag and Luke drops his full dustpan into hers, giving her a small smile.

Not long after, Alex and her aunt join them. “Well, there goes dinner. I guess it will be leftovers after all. Hey, what do you boys like to eat so I can make something you like next time.”

“We actually can’t eat?” Reggie says it almost like a question, leaning slightly on the broom he’s holding.

Now that stops Julie’s aunt in her tracks. “You can’t eat?” It sends her on a Spanish spiral as she laments a little too quickly for Julie to be able to translate properly.

“Great,” she deadpans as her aunt keeps ranting in the background. “She’s gonna make it her life’s mission to feed you, you know?” The boys laugh with her as a feeling of warmth settles in her stomach. This is just about as normal as a situation like this can get and Julie is really glad to have her aunt, one of her biggest confidants, in her corner. She smiles fondly at the scene in front of her and opens the garbage bag a little wider for her dad. What did she do in her past life to deserve people like these? It must have been something really good.

**Author's Note:**

> The italicizing in this one _sucked so hard_. And in other news, my classes started 5 days ago and I'm already swamped but the good news is 1) I cranked out 4k words for this verse in that time and 2) I started using my new pronouns in class and it's not as big a deal as I thought people were going to make about it. Also, I've rediscovered my love for Harry Potter in a deeply concerning turn of escapist events, so if you see any references just know: Jowling Kowling Rowling is a terf and we don't support her or her followers in this house. Anyway! As always, prompts are open from [this list](https://p0ck3tf0x.tumblr.com/post/98502010026/one-hundred-ways-to-say-i-love-you) except for 7, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 19, 21, 22, 26, 31, 33, 37, 38, 39, 41, 44, 48, 49, 50, 53, 57, 62, 63, 64, 65, 67, 70, 82, 83, 86, 91, 92, 98, and 99. You can drop a comment here or shoot me a PM/ask on tumblr. I love you beautiful creatures so much. Have a great week!
> 
> main: [hi-hello-hey-there](https://hi-hello-hey-there.tumblr.com/)  
> side: [toziers-token](https://toziers-token.tumblr.com/)
> 
> love, blue


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